March madness continues with snow, rain, messy commute

The last one? South Shore residents are hoping. A fast-moving storm the day before spring's official arrival brought heavier snowfall than expected across the entire south of Boston and greater Boston region.

A fast-moving storm the day before spring's official arrival brought heavier snowfall than expected across the South Shore.

By sunrise Tuesday, Quincy, Marshfield and other communities had as much as 6 to 8 inches, and that prompted two dozen school districts and private schools to cancel classes or open late. Schools were closed in Braintree, Canton, Cohasset, Duxbury, Milton, Pembroke, Quincy, Randolph, Sharon, Weymouth and the South Shore Charter School in Norwell.

Unlike this season’s previous storms, this one didn’t bring the high winds that brought down power lines and tree limbs, and flooded coastal communities. National Grid and NStar reported no power failures in the area.

A mix of rain and snow was forecast to linger through Tuesday night.

There’s a chance for additional light snow Thursday, but the weekend will begin to look like spring, with mostly sunny to sunny weather and highs in the low 40s.

But that’s still a long way from highs in the low 70s the region enjoyed a year ago, and local residents are longing for that.

After an unexpectedly fierce, short winter since early February, local residents and commuters are more than ready for the season to be gone.

“I’m sick of winter – big time,” Quincy resident Ngambe Tawah said as she waited for a bus at the Quincy Center MBTA station. “I hate that it’s freezing cold in March. The greatest thing right now would be for winter to be over.”

Fellow bus passenger Robert Eisenhauer of Quincy agreed. “I’d rather be in Florida,” he said.

Early this morning police and fire departments reported few storm-related incidents – a couple of fender bender accidents in Weymouth, and numerous towings in Quincy, where vehicles were parked on major streets in violation of the city’s snow emergency.

Schools were closed for the day in Braintree, Canton, Cohasset, Duxbury, Milton, Pembroke, Plymouth, Quincy, Randolph, Sharon and Weymouth, and at the South Shore Charter School in Norwell.

Catholic school closings included Archbishop Williams High in Braintree, Notre Dame Academy in Hingham and Fontbonne Academy in Milton.

National Weather Service meteorologist Alan Dunham said this storm will significantly raise the season’s 55.9 inch snowfall total. The South Shore and Boston are getting more than six times the 2011-2012 total snowfall, and considerably above the area’s 39.2 inch average.

Lane Lambert may be reached at llambert@ledger.com. Staff writer Eryn Carlson contributed to this report.